{"id":6607,"date":"2015-06-16T19:04:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T19:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=6607&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-11-20T20:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T20:58:20","slug":"mentor-magnetism","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/mentor-magnetism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentor Magnetism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

[lead]Walking through the doors of the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, it only takes a minute or two before Phillip Gordon is surrounded by smiling children who clamor for his attention. A youth counselor at the community center in downtown Orlando\u2019s Parramore Heritage Community, Gordon is a bona fide human magnet for its students.[\/lead]<\/p>\n

\u201cKids love me,\u201d he says. \u201cI think I understand them a lot, and they understand me too.\u201d<\/p>\n

That understanding, according to Gordon, comes from common experience. As a boy growing up in the neighborhood challenged by crime, poverty and violence, he dealt with pressures that carried dire consequences. Friends went to jail. One was killed. \u201cI had a positive mind, but I followed the crowd,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cI see a lot of youth here in Parramore who are going through what I went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the age of 4, Gordon joined the Parramore Kidz Zone (PKZ), a city of Orlando outreach program for at-risk youth where he later found mentors who listened to his problems and steered him away from trouble. As he grew into a teen, his confidence improved and he became president of PKZ\u2019s Teenz Of Parramore Youth Advisory Council. The leadership experience changed Gordon\u2019s mind about college, a dream he never thought possible.<\/p>\n

[photo id=”6902″ title=”Phillip Gordon, ’13, youth counsellor at Orlando’s Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center.” alt=”Phillip Gordon, ’13<\/strong>, youth counsellor at Orlando’s Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center.” position=”left” width=”400px”]For youth counsellor Phillip Gordon, ’13<\/strong>, helping the children of Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood is equal parts work and joy.[\/photo]<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody around me went to college,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt proud that the PKZ team was telling me, \u2018You\u2019re a good kid. You have to leave here and go to college.\u2019 It stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that motivation, Gordon applied and was accepted to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, but after a few weeks he returned home, overwhelmed by homesickness, transferred to Valencia College and eventually UCF through the DirectConnect to UCF program<\/a>. Working part time as a teacher\u2019s aide at the Nap Ford Community School and Callahan Neighborhood Center, he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice from the College of Health and Public Affairs with the ambition to become a police officer or probation officer as a way to help his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the kids here get in trouble at an early age and end up with a criminal record by the time they\u2019re 11 or 12,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cIn [law enforcement], I could instill in them the same pride that was instilled in me \u2014 that I could rise above the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the satisfaction of making a daily impact on his students\u2019 lives changed his mind about law enforcement. Today Gordon does double duty at Callahan and the Cherokee School in Orlando while he works toward an Orange County Public Schools teacher certification and eventually a master\u2019s degree in education<\/a> from UCF.<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

[blockquote source=”” cite=”” color=”#c82727″]\u201cWorking with children has become a passion. I want them to look up to me as the person they can come to when they\u2019re having problems.\u201d[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

And he\u2019ll remain in the troubled neighborhood that he was once encouraged to leave, hopefully as a physical education teacher at the new pre-K through eighth grade school that is planned to open there in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cParramore has a place in my heart,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cIf you want to see change, you have to work at it and you have to be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like working with children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6727,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[782],"class_list":["post-6607","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-directconnect-to-ucf","issues-520","issues-summer-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nAlumnus Mentors Parramore Kids<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Downtown Orlando Callahan Neighborhood Center counselor, Parramore Kidz Zone-product Phillip Gordon returned to his community to help at-risk children.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/mentor-magnetism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mentor Magnetism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Downtown Orlando Callahan Neighborhood Center 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